12 Days Birding & Bird Photography Tours In Sabah, Borneo

Review of Swarovski Modular Spotting Scopes

94 species of birds in 1 day at Tabin Wildlife Reserve

Sunday, May 25, 2008

met with tilan and nabghani (both are photomalaysia.com member) at tanjung aru beach and had a good conversation regarding birding in sabah and sarawak. at the same time tested 3 spotting scopes (nikon ED82 and leica APO 77) to compared with the new kowa 884mm belongs to sinooorita and from other observers eyes, we agreed that kowa is the best with wide FOV of its zoom eyepiece, sharp and brighter than the other two scopes.

tilan and sinooorita testing the scopes while nabghani enjoying his ABC (grated of ice cubes and fruits with syrup, brown sugar and evaporated milks !)

then today went to crocker range with sinooorita and chai and his girlfriend to check the nest of besra which chai found few days ago at gunung alab sub-station for crocker range national park and to our surprised, we managed to see and recorded 3 chicks on the nest and at few occasions, the mum came and fed the chicks without bothering us talking their pictures and video recording.

it is a new sub-station judging from the newly built facilities such as hut, small parking space, and building that houses an office for the rangers on duty and accommodation for visitors. temperature is around 20 degree celcius and elevation at 1880m asl.

snapped from my cellphone because my compact camera battery's died out :p

it rained after lunch and can u see the cooler box and a can of tiger beer next to it ? wahaha

short recording from my cellphone :)

bird seen and heard along the access road and at gunung emas restaurant:

whitehead's broadbill (heard)

bare-headed laughingthrush

sunda bush warbler

ashy drongo

bornean treepie

oriental cuckoo (heard)

little cuckoo dove

blyth's hawk-eagle

chestnut-crested yuhina

red-breasted partridge (heard)

crimson-headed partridge (heard)

temminck's sunbird

mountain blackeye

ochraceous bulbul

ashy bulbul (bornean race)

short-tailed magpie

sunda laughingthrush (heard)

chestnut-hooded laughingthrush

black-sided flowerpecker (heard)

i'll be visiting this place again next week to check the progress of the chicks and updating my bird list of this station to see if this place is worth for a day visit combining with rafflesia centre, which is only about 15 minutes drive from the station with my upcoming birding groups.

Saturday, May 17, 2008

pay a visit to my father who had a health problem and were admitted at duchess of kent hospital, sandakan few days ago. visiting hours started from 1230 - 1400 hrs and 1600 - 1930 hrs daily, so took few trips in the morning to the rainforest discovery centre, part of the sepilok-kabili forest reserve.

view from platform no. 3

has 3 viewing towers with the other 2 is connected with walkway together with excellent trails and during my visit, managed to record around 76 birds and 1 lifer; bornean bristlehead ! wahaha searched for 3 years and with the aid of my scope, got a splendid view of 3 bristleheads and took short footage of it and im so happy coz it was the day my father was discharged from the hospital too :)

total species recorded (including visit on last march) : 86 birds so far (own list)

black hornbill

violet cuckoo

endemic of borneo, white-crowned shama

summary from this trip :

worth a visit for 2 days birding even though the whole trails could be completed within a day

good introduction of the lowland rainforest

fantastic place for bird photography i.e digiscoping due to the sufficient light during the day

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

fantastic trip to java with ck recently and managed to see many lifers that is endemic to the island at bogor garden and gede pangrango national park which is about 3 hours drive from jakarta international airport.

some of the common birds found at bogor garden such as during ou:

sooty-headed bulbul

bar-winged prinia

scarlet-headed flowerpecker and

coppersmith barbet

collared kingfisher

bogor garden

rain in the afternoon almost everyday

black-crowned night heron at its roosting site in the garden

horsfield's bronze cuckoo seen from the firman pensione balcony

then spent few nights at cibodas where we stayed at freddy's homestay and birded along the hot spring and waterfalls trails. some of the interesting birds was seen at the national park such as :

pygmy tit - so small !

javan grey-throated white-eye

javan hawk-eagle

oriental white eye - 2 forms occurred here

lesser forktail

white-bibbed babbler

cresent-chested babbler

javan fulvetta

chestnut-fronted shrike-babbler

brown-throated barbet

red junglefowl - a pair on the 1st morning

spotted kestrel - 3 birds seen at the waterfall

javan tesia - much bigger and active than the bornean stubtail

rusty-breasted cuckoo - heard daily

fire-tufted barbet - along the hotspring trail

sunda bulbul

striated swallow

tawny-breasted parrotfinch

grey tit - common around cibodas garden

yellow-throated hanging parrot

javan kingfisher - on my last day at the golf course hahaha :p and many thanks to indra for the tips :)

oriental cuckoo - heard daily

black-banded barbet - heard daily too

javan kingfisher (endemic)

sunda blue robin

flame-fronted barbet (endemic)

sooty-headed bulbul

orange-spotted bulbul (endemic)

blood-breasted flowerpecker (endemic)

ashy drongo

planning to visit bogor again with my whole family and im impressed with the hospitality of the peoples and the pretty smiles from the girls hahaha :)